Anna Library project: 20,000 rare books, journal s now a click away

Anna Library project: 20,000 rare books, journal  s now a click away

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 27.11.2021

Some of the rarest collections including a review of the shipping system of the East-India Company of 1798, the Madras Monthly Journal Medical Science of 1872, the Madras Agricultural Journal of 1929 and some rare Tamil literary works such as “Nandanar Charithira Keerthani: Chidambarakummi of 1895” are just a click away.

An Anna Centenary Library project is digitising rare books, journals, written manuscripts, palm-leaf manuscripts, documents and periodicals, rare photographs and paintings sourced from individuals and institutions across the state. “The readers can now read 20,000 rare books at the digital library on the website of directorate of public libraries (tamilnadupubliclibraries.org),”

said S Kannappan, director (incharge) of Public Libararies.

The team will first verify whether the books have already been digitised and whether they are copyrighted. “We are scanning copyrights of books and journals and other material to preserve them,” said S Kamatchi, coordinator, digital library project at Anna Centenary Library in Kotturpuram.

“There are many rare books and palm leaf manuscripts with individuals and institutions. If not preserved, they will eventually be lost,” she added. Under the project, around three lakh palm leaf manuscripts have been digitised besides books and journals.

Anna Centenary Library also entered into MoU with Madras University to scan rare books preserved in the university. “There are 10,000 rare books and journals, pamphlets are being preserved in the university library. ACL team will scan them and make available to all readers in their digital library. They will also provide the digital copy to the university,” said S Gowri, vicechancellor of Madras University.

Besides, rare books belonging to Presidency College and other institutions also will be preserved in digital form.